Product Details

• Actors: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Keith Andes, Celeste Yarnall
• Directors: Joseph Pevney
• Writers: Gene Roddenberry, Max Ehrlich
• Producers: Gene L. Coon, Gene Roddenberry, Robert H. Justman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: CBS Paramount International Television
• VHS Release Date: April 15, 1994
• Run Time: 46 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300213420
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #35,940 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
A landing party beams down to Gamma Trianguli VI, a lush planet that's just like paradise... or is it? This is not the episode to be caught wearing a red shirt in: dangers abound and crew members drop like flies. Soon the party discovers a seemingly unspoiled tribe of innocents who spend their lives serving the god Vaal. Can it be that it's time to disobey the Prime Directive? The natives are all beautiful people with loincloths and entertaining hairdos, and of course Mr. Scott has an engineering dilemma. Another highlight is the sequence in which the natives learn a few facts of life from a particularly randy Chekov. Skip this one at your peril. --Ali Davis

From the Back Cover
Vaal, protector of Gamma Trianguli VI, tries everything in its power to destroy Kirk and the Enterpriseduring an ill-fated visit to the strange planet. TREK TRIVIA
Here's the episode that earned the series its reputation for killing off "redshirts" (four security guards are slain during the episode).
A youthful David Soul (Starsky and Hutch) guests as Makora. Later, Soul appeared with fellow Star Trek alumni Robert Brown and Mark Leonard in the popular TV series Here Come The Brides.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Kirk, the society killer. What prime directive?, June 8, 2008

By	Charles Ashbacher "([e-mail])" (Marion, Iowa United States([e-mail])) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

At times, the Star Trek original series had a strong recurring fear of the computer run amok and this episode is one of those times. An Enterprise landing party arrives on Gamma Trianguli VI, a planet that appears to be a paradise. The climate is soft tropical and the growing conditions are ideal. However, there is a plant that shoots poisonous spikes, which kills one anonymous crewman. Shortly after this, another crewman is killed when he steps on an explosive rock.
Kirk and the landing party find that their beam-up is being blocked from the planet and they capture Akuta, a man with antennas on his head. Akuta claims to be the eyes and ears of Vaal, the "creature" worshipped by the inhabitants. When it is time for Vaal to feed, the natives take produce to the creature, which as a giant dragon-like statue around a cave.
Vaal recognizes the Enterprise crew as enemies and explains to the villagers how to kill the landing party by hitting them in the head with a club. However, when the villagers attempt to carry out their murderous plan, the members of the landing party easily defeat them. Having had no conflict in their known memory, the villagers are no match for combat trained Star Fleet personnel.
Kirk then learns that the society is static, there is no love, growth or any development, and the only purpose for the people is to serve Vaal. Sex is allowed only when there is a need for a replacement when someone is accidentally killed. Furthermore, it becomes clear that Vaal is a giant underground computer. Kirk prevents the villagers from feeding Vaal and this lowers its power reserves. The Enterprise then fires its phasers at Vaal and after some resistance Vaal is destroyed. As the episode ends, the Enterprise is preparing to leave the planet and there is a scene of a young male and female appearing to begin the process of romantic love.
The Prime Directive is supposed to be the highest point of ethical and moral conduct among Star Fleet personnel, yet in this episode it is once again ignored. Furthermore, the computer run amok story is used once too often. Whatever else we may think about the situation on the planet, the people are kept safe and protected and their ecosystem supports them. Within their bounds, they have freedom and plenty and any ethical person would view this episode with a bit of trepidation and disturbance. A functioning society is destroyed because it does not suit Kirk's ideals of what characteristics a "vibrant" culture should exhibit.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This episode gets a C+ grade and is ranked 46th out of 80, October 22, 1999

By A Customer

When a landing party beams down to the planet Gamma Trianguli VI, they find what appears to be an idyllic paradise. They quickly discover, however, that the planet is deadly, sporting plants that shoot thorns, rocks that explode, and incredibly accurate lightning bolts. With a much reduced party, they encounter the planet's inhabitants. They are a peaceful, child-like people who call themselves the "Feeders of Vaal." They dress in flowers and bright paint, never reproducing because they don't age or die. Each day they "feed" Vaal offerings of food. Vaal seems to be a large, serpent's head carved of rock, but is actually the terminal for an advanced, underground computer. Seeing Kirk and his party as a threat, Vaal takes them prisoner and tries to pull the U.S.S. Enterprise from orbit. Kirk realizes that by depriving Vaal of the native's daily offerings of food, the computer won't be able to convert the offerings into reaction mass. Thus weakened,

Kirk uses the U.S.S. Enterprise's phasers to destroy Vaal. This leaves the natives on their own to discover birth, death, and the ways of human life.

1.0 out of 5 stars Kirk Fires Scotty?!, May 14, 2009

By	Lokai (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This episode is one of the Second Season's worst. First, you have red shirt guys dropping like flies left and right. It was this episode that gave the idea that if you wore a red shirt, you were dead. You then have the stupid Vaal computer. Question: If Vaal could control lightening, then couldn't he have killed everyone? He did not need to teach the people how to kill. The crew responded by not feeding him. Question: If Vaal could drag down a might starship, couldn't he have dragged some fruits off the trees and into his "mouth"? When Scotty couldn't pull away because of Vaal's tractor beam, what does Kirk do? He fires him. This episode is bad!